Israel
80SevereA regional military power at war on multiple fronts.
Conducting a war in Gaza that has produced the highest civilian casualty rate of any twenty-first-century conflict relative to its size, with active fronts against Hezbollah, the Houthis, and direct exchanges with Iran, while its diplomatic standing collapses faster than at any point in its history.
What the index reads for this country
Six axes specific to country-level pressure: war involvement, climate burden, mental-health load, press freedom, polarisation, inequality. Each scored 0 to 10.
How the country sees itself, how the world sees it
Hand-curated paraphrases of the dominant framings drawn from named outlets on each side. Not journalism; an attempt to make the gap visible so the reader can hold both at once.
An existential war forced on Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023, prosecuted with the moral clarity of a nation that has been told it must not exist. International criticism is double standards at best, antisemitism at worst.
“We did not start this war, but we will not be the ones who lose it.”
Disproportionate collective punishment that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, breached international humanitarian law repeatedly, and put the country on trial for genocide at the ICJ. A government whose continuation depends on the war continuing.
“What is happening in Gaza is not self-defence as the term has ever been used in international law.”
Israel is currently entangled in 3 conflicts
Conflict pairs sourced from the conflict registry used by the world map. Status reflects the most-elevated tier currently observable; intensity is editorial 0-10.
Israeli military operation in Gaza following the 7 October 2023 attacks. Tens of thousands of civilian casualties, mass displacement, ICJ provisional measures, and an active genocide case at the ICJ. The arc on this map links Israel to its primary state adversary (Iran) since Hamas is non-state.
Sustained cross-border exchanges since October 2023 escalating to direct strikes inside Lebanon and Hezbollah's leadership decapitation, with periodic ceasefires holding for short periods only.
Direct missile and drone exchanges between Israel and Iran began in 2024 and have continued in escalating waves, including Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear-adjacent facilities.